SPECIES 2. LANIUS CAROLINENS1S.* 



LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 



[Plate XXII. Fig. 5.] 



PEALE'S Museum, JVo. 557. 



THIS species has a considerable resemblance to the Great 

 American Shrike. It differs, however, from that bird in size, 

 being a full inch shorter, and in colour, being much darker on 

 the upper parts; and in having the frontlet black. It also inha- 

 bits the warmer parts of the United States; while the Great 

 American Shrike is chiefly confined to the northern regions, 

 and seldom extends to the south of Virginia. 



This species inhabits the rice plantations of Carolina and 

 Georgia, where it is protected for its usefulness in destroying 

 mice. It sits, for hours together, on the fence, beside the stacks 

 of rice, watching like a cat; and as soon as it perceives a mouse, 

 darts on it like a Hawk. It also feeds on crickets and grasshop- 

 pers. Its note, in March, resembled the clear creaking of a sign 

 board, in windy weather. It builds its nest, as I was informed, 

 generally in a detached bush, much like that of the Mocking- 

 bird; but as the spring was not then sufficiently advanced, I had 

 no opportunity of seeing its eggs. It is generally known by the 

 name of the Loggerhead. 



This species is nine inches long and thirteen in extent; the 

 colour above is cinereous or dark ash; scapulars, and line over 

 the eye, whitish; wings black, with a small spot of white at the 

 base of the primaries, and tipt with white; a stripe of black pas- 



* Lanius Ludovicianus, LINX. which name must be adopted. In Buffon, pi. 

 enl. 528, there is a figure of a young bird. Synonymes: La Pie-griesche de la 

 Louisiane, Jiuiss. 2, p. 162. LATH. Ind. Orn. p. 69. 



